> Dear Karen DM,
> Mike Mahoney passed your e-mail on to me since I am the resident Tartaglia
> expert. The 1554 edition usually combines th 1537 Nova Scientia and the
> 1546 Quesiti et Inventioni. The 1554 edition has some additions
> Tartaglia made, though, and I think is the nicer one to actually
> posess.
There is a spanish version of La Nova Scientia, in the Collection "Mathema" of
the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), ISBN 968-36-6620-5, 1998.
In the third book, Tartaglia states certain elementary methods to estimate
distances, like (I'm translating form the sapnish version),
"I want to artificially measure the height of a visible object towards which
I can not move nor see its base...",
he even goes to build some instruments to
"investigate from the aspect the horizontal and the hipotenuseal (?) of the
visible objects".
To describe the methods, he extensively cites Euclides. On the other hand, it
is well known that he was very fond of Arquimedes' heuristics.
So the natural (and quite elementary, I'm afraid) question is, why is that he
does not refere to Claudius Ptolemais?
Of course, he is not writing for trained mathematicians, but, did he get to
know the Almagest?
Where can I search about this?
Thanks
Arturo Mena
Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso
(Ojala que llueva)